Conventionally, among slide type portable terminals which are brought into extended conditions thereof by relatively moving upper housings and lower housings stacked via coupling portions on the upper housings along planar directions thereof, the below-mentioned portable terminal has been proposed (refer to, for instance, patent publication 1): That is, while a line along a stacking direction of an upper housing and a lower housing is set as a center, the upper housing and the lower housing can be rotated.
The upper housing is equipped with a display unit such as an LCD, and a receiver on a front face thereof. On the other hand, the lower housing is equipped with an operation unit on which various sorts of keys are arrayed, and a microphone on a front face thereof, while a circuit board and an antenna are stored in the lower housing. A control unit, a communication unit, and the like are provided on the circuit board, whereas the antenna is connected to the communication unit.
The coupling portion is equipped with a rail provided on a center portion of the front face of the lower housing, and an engaging portion which is engaged with a rail provided on a back face of the upper housing.
This portable telephone is capable of selecting a portable condition under which the upper housing and the lower housing are stacked with each other and an extended condition under which the upper housing and the lower housing are arrayed in a stepped manner along a longitudinal direction by relatively moving the upper housing and the lower housing, while the engaging portion is slid along the rails of the coupling portion.
Then, in the above-described portable terminal, since the operation condition thereof is transferred from the extended condition up to such a swing condition that the upper housing is rotated by an angle of approximately 90 degrees with respect to the lower housing while the engaging portion is set as the center, the display unit having a substantially rectangular shape is orientated whose longer edge is directed along a lateral direction thereof. As a result, for instance, a suitable TV viewing environment may be obtained.
Patent Publication 1: JP-A-2004-320549